...And the conversation somehow drifted to 'Al Tishali Oti'. Declared one blogger, "If I was the sabra, I wouldn't post so cryptically'. "If I was the sabra", said another, "I wouldn't use so many Hebrew & Yiddish words." Another blogger chimed in, "If I owned 'Al Tishali Oti', I would be more consistent with colors n content." "I wouldn't be sarcastic to commenters", muttered another, darkly. One blogger added not. "I have nothing to say, for 'To know the sabra is to be the sabra'."

Monday, July 31, 2006

As I ambled down the quiet busy streets and the busy quiet streets, many poetic lines and flowery thoughts raced through my head-like school children scrambling to be first on line. Each one confident that they have that unique something to make them stand out and be deserving of the head of the group.

Yes, each one is vital, is special, is "madhim!" but each one shines with a different light, with a separate strength, from a distinct angle.

So the children, so my emotions and memories.

Some were cheerful, some were wistful, some were brilliant, some were heated, some were humorous, some were painful, some were anxious and nearly all, butterfly producing.

And all deserved a place. In an organized fashion.

But who can straighten out unruly kids and unruly thoughts with chumus smeard hands and ribbon tied legs?

My heart thumped awkardly when the sheirut passed Machon Meir and my brain sizzled frantically with the realization that the whiteniks belong to a different world.

I belong to a different world.

It's time for my journey back to the world which I never left...and time to decide which schoolchildren deserve to be at the head of the line.

Wednesday, July 26, 2006

......Israel has begun the "surgery" to cleanse its environment of the noxious diseases of terror and lust for Jewish deaths. But when the blood caused by the surgery begins to gush forth, the UN may condemn, the State Department may criticize and the Israeli left will become self-loathing. The Jewish state might then be compelled to "sew" up the wound before the infection has been eliminated. If that happens, the infection of terror will be allowed to simmer beneath the surface until the next explosion occurs in a year or two or ten. (The Arabs, it must be said, have lots of patience.).........Time and time again, the State of Israel has proven the truth of the ancient saying, that when a Jew finally makes a fist, he bangs it on his heart to confess his wrongdoings.....

Hizbullah Chief Hassan Nasrallah (yemach shemo) sent his condolences to the family of the two Israeli Arab children killed on Wednesday by a Katyusha rocket in Nazareth. “I apologize to the family,” he told Al-Jazeera. “We consider them shahids for Palestine.”(saw it on Ynet)

*The rebbe actually tells someone on the video-why do you want a blessing from a human when Hashem Himself blessed and promised us safety 3,000 years ago!

** I never tire from watching this video. I think I can safely say that I've viewed it more than 100 times during this past year alone. These holy words ring true from generation to generation, situation to situation.

I hate the Nazi Germans for setting constant fear in the hearts of the Jews.More than the hunger or the pain, it's the cold gripping fear that makes me burn with anger.The unknown, the decisions, the selections, the choices. The fear.

Today, Tsach volunteers visited IDF soldiers at army posts in the north, laid tefillin with them and encouraged them. Rabbi Aharon Pruss, coordinator of Tsach's activities with the army, headed a special team to the north that visited Kiryat Shemona and to settlements in the Western Galilee until Naharia. The Chabadniks laid tefillin with them and distributed cakes and drinks and encouraged them. "The soldiers received us with joy and were revived by our cheering words", said Rabbi Pruss to COL. Tsach is also planning additional activities with the soldiers. (col.org.il)

Sunday, July 16, 2006

there are some that are sitting on couches and there are some that are sitting on chairsthere are some that are dressed in robes and there are some that are dressed in suitsthere are some that are under bat mitzvah and there are some that are grandmothersthere are some that are not yet religious and there are some that are chabadthere are some that are quiet and introverted and there are some that are friendly and loudthere are some that are obviously wealthy and there are some that are quite poorthere are some that are from a sefardi lineage and there are some that are ashkenazithere are some that are coming from next door and there are some that are from a mile awaythere are some that are fluent in hebrew and there are some that are strugglingthere are some that grew up in israel and there are some that are never visited

All gathered together to say tehillim.

Why?

Because our brothers in eretz yisrael are being attacked right now.

And those rockets do not discriminate; they are aimed at all types of Jews-

those that are sitting on couches and those that are sitting on chairsthose that are dressed in robes and those that are dressed in suitsthose that are under bat mitzvah and those that are grandmothersthose that are not yet religious and those that are chabadthose that are quiet and introverted and those that are friendly and loudthose that are obviously wealthy and those that are quite poorthose that are from a sefardi lineage and those that are ashkenazithose that are coming from next door and those that are from a mile awaythose that are fluent in hebrew and those that are strugglingthose that grew up in israel and those that are there for the first time

If you only knew - The Tzemach Tzedek said - the power of verses of Tehillim and their effect in the highest Heavens, you would recite them constantly. Know that the chapters of Tehillim shatter all barriers, they ascend higher and still higher with no interference; they prostrate themselves in supplication before the Master of all worlds, and they effect and accomplish with kindness and compassion.

Wednesday, July 12, 2006

The Defense Ministry confirmed early Wednesday afternoon that two soldiers had been kidnapped by Hizbullah after an attack. IDF ground troops had been sent into Lebanon to search for the two. IAF jets, helicopters and UAVs were also flying above Lebanon searching for the soldiers.

Hizbullah's Al Manar TV broadcast earlier Wednesday that the organization had kidnapped the two soldiers. A senior Hizbullah official said that at least one of the allegedly kidnapped soldiers was still alive.

Tuesday, July 11, 2006

three blog read poems (some older than others) that i like and think you should read.

what im afraid of: sj's refreshing look at the future and the beauties and sensibilities of assimilation.(ya sarcasm is the protest of the weak, i know i know)THE GREEN GREEN GRASS: kasamba sends her kids to corrupt the neighbors(was that supposed to assauge ur feelings of guilt or intensify them?)Youth tainted with Experience: pint sized rejoices with those who have seen and heard and still believe(ach she says it so much better...go read)

Sunday, July 09, 2006

On the entire way home from the pizza shop tonight, I was absentmindedly fiddling with the receipt.I think it was $15.38. But who cares.When I got back home I glanced down and happened to notice that during my fiddlation I had wrapped the paper around my finger and bent it into an interesting, unique and fascinating (aka indiscernible) design.That set me thinking.I figure that if everyone had their own receipt, their own paper, each one would end up with a different creation. Some would automatically create a paper airplane, some would fashion it into a rose, and some would immediately begin tearing it into shreds.And that set me thinking.Everyone has their own paper. A paper called Life.

(shoutout to mussi and to the other sister who reads my blog...if ya comment or email ill know how to spell ur name)

Wednesday, July 05, 2006

Today, Wednesday, the ninth day of Tammuz, marks thirty days since Reizi passed away. On her shloshim, we'd like to acknowledge, update, remind and thank all of you who have done something for her aliyas neshama.

At first, we were numb with shock and pain. The terrible and tragic turn of events did not let the mind think clearly. We felt helpless and hopeless. Then, when we started this project to Make Reizi Proud, we suddenly had the strength to carry on despite the horrible pain. Only because of the enormously positive response that we, baruch hashem, received to the email we sent out. Each and every hachlata tova that we were told about provided a measure of comfort and chizuk.

Whatever you have done, whether you have said one perek of tehillim in her zechus, taken upon yourself to have more kavanah during davening, helped sponsor the Tzivos Hashem project or began memorizing a few lines or few perakim of Tanya-know, that every single good deed has added a brilliant ray of light to both our personal foggy and dim world right now-that of Reizi's family and close friends-as well as to the world at large. The darkness that is being experienced now in this Golus can only be remedied with such acts of goodness and kindness.

Many tefillos and hachlatos were accepted in Reizi's zechus; here is the update of the 'three ways to help' that we originally wrote about.

UPDATE:

1. Tzivos Hashem Project-The special project that will definitely make Reizi proud is a Moshiach contest. B'ezrat Hashem at the start of the upcoming school year, this Moshiach Contest will be put into action. Children all around the world will be participating and doing their part to hasten the coming of Moshiach.(We do, however, need additional funds for the success of the project to be complete. Checks can be made out to 'Tzivos Hashem' or 'Esty Silberstein', and sent to:Making Reizi Proudc/o Esty Silberstein599 Empire BlvdBrooklyn, NY 11213)

2. Tanya- Amazingly, with the help of Hashem and YOU, we have reached and even surpassed our original goal of having ten sets of Perakim Aleph though Yud of Tanya memorized. After those first ten sets, we now have tens and tens of other perakim being memorized in Reizis zechus.A reminder-anyone who has taken upon themselves to memorize Tanya, you have one year to do it. In one years time, on Reizi's yahrtzeit, you will be expected to know your perek by heart, fluently. However, do not leave it for the last month or so, for as the Rebbe wrote in the Hayom Yom of Tes Sivan, it is our obligation to speak words of Torah as we walk in the streets. These holy words purify our air, and I doubt anyone will argue with me when I say that our air needs much purifying.

3. 2 Minutes 2 G-d- Baruch Hashem, we have nearly 200 people who are setting aside two minutes every night for the study of something holy, in Reizis zechus.

Many of you have committed yourselves to do your chosen hachlata until the shloshim. That is fine and good. But, if you do decide to continue, PLEASE do so! Whether it is the nightly learning or any other personal hachlata, we wish you much hatzlacha as it can only benefit you, your family and all of klal yisrael for you to carry on.

I know that Hashem is looking down at His precious children now and collecting all the ahavas yisroel that you have displayed and adding it to the huge scale that is balanced between good and evil. These good thoughts, prayers, actions and decisions will definitely tip the scale for the good.And I know that we are certainly making Reizi proud.IT IS TIME FOR MOSHIACH TO COME! AD MOSAI, WE CRY! AD MOSAI, HASHEM??!

Tuesday, July 04, 2006

Seems as if there's a blogchain for all to say a personal prayer for the safety and rescue of Gilad. I don't remember where I saw it first, but I see now that olah chadasha was the originator.

My prayer?

I beg of You Hashem to see all the goodness being done by Your children and release a mentally and physically happy, healthy and secure Gilad back to his family. But don't stop there. Oh, no. I DEMAND OF YOU-AD MOSAI?? OH WHEN WILL OUR SUFFERING END?? YOU MUST BRING US MOSHIACH ALREADY!!"v'amech kulam tzadikim"-hashem, we are a nation of righteous ones!YOU HAVE NO CHOICE BUT TO RELEASE US FROM THIS UNDESERVED GOLUS!

(special and important shabbat for women coming up, click here for more details)

What is a sabra?
A sabra is a form of cactus, Opuntia ficus-indica, that grows extensively in Israel.
The fruit of the sabra has a thick peel with a sharp spine and is covered in prickly thorns. Once the rough and deterring exterior is peeled away, however, you will reach the contrasting sweet pulp.
Authentic Israelis are often referred to as "sabras" because they tend to be outwardly tough and coarse, but once you get to know them they really are a soft, sweet and sensitive people.